Robert Shaye was, in fact, absolutely right.
A film's opening-day box office doesn't reflect its real market reception.
Unless it's a tiny-budget movie where both the director and the cast are nobodies, the first-day gross mostly cos from fans rushing in.
So when a film has a huge opening day, all that proves is that the director and actors have clout and popularity.
As for the general audience's opinion?
That only shows up in the following days.
And that matters—a lot. No movie can hit a billion just on fan power alone.
But still—
Even if what Robert Shaye said is an industry truth,
the opening-day box office is still the single most, most, most, most, most important tric.
Because the dia—those vultures addicted to hype—don't care about logic. They only want stories with bite.
So when the press realized that The Voice had, like Panic Room and Die Another Day earlier that year, managed to "overthrow the giants," they lost their collective minds.
Except for Turner's networks, every outlet—especially Warner's and Disney's—on the morning of December 26, 2002, dropped one deep-water bomb after another:
"The Duel of the Century Decided! The Voice Smashes Catch If You Can!"
"Master vs. Disciple? Chris Columbus Defeats Steven Spielberg!"
"'I'm the King of the World!'—Hermione Granger Screams at Jack Dawson!"
"Unbelievable! Harry Potter's magic… inherited by her?!"
"Slaying The Rings! Stomping Catch ! Kicking The Lovers! Beating The Gangs! Isabella Haywood's new film The Voice storms to No.1 in North Arica on opening day!"
And so on, and so forth—
because the dia will always pour gasoline on any fire they find.
Their headlines were already deranged, but the articles themselves were even more hysterical:
"The long-discussed master–disciple showdown, the box-office duel between Oscar contenders, officially began yesterday. Then—Hermione Granger's actress, Isabella Haywood, in her first film outside the Harry Potter franchise, scored a blistering opening with The Voice, grossing 10.18 million dollars in North Arica on day one."
"It's shocking—because The Voice was the only movie yesterday to cross the 10-million mark!"
"Catch If You Can, its opponent, managed only 8.38 million."
"It's even more shocking—because The Voice beca the third film this year to topple a box-office titan."
"It narrowly defeated the mythic Lord of the Rings!"
"We don't yet know how Isabella Haywood herself feels about this, especially since just a month ago Chamber of Secrets was overshadowed and battered by Die Another Day, but The Voice's success is even crazier than Die Another Day beating Chamber, or Panic Room sweeping Star Wars."
"Not only did The Voice face the most and the strongest rivals, it also had the weakest lineup!"
"Its only box-office powerhouse was Isabella Haywood herself. In the other two cases, Die Another Day and Panic Room, there were several established stars with proven track records."
"Given all that, we can only say Isabella Haywood has entered Hollywood's elite solo tier. Her comrcial pull is now visible to the naked eye—she may have already surpassed countless veterans."
"Because she just took down Leo…"
Boom.
Once that article hit, the entire North Arican, British, and English-speaking world blew up.
Because, co on—it was outrageous.
Leo DiCaprio was a certified global A superstar. Honestly, maybe even A . He starred in Titanic, the all-ti box-office king!
1.8 billion dollars worldwide, earned from 300 million paying viewers. That wasn't just historic; it was practically divine.
So, saying Isabella beat him? Fair enough.
But saying she took him down?
That was just disrespectful nonsense.
Still, all that outrage didn't matter.
While the public fud, the Arican dia—ever "diligent"—rolled out a line of interviews with the people involved.
NBC caught up with Steven Spielberg.
When asked how he felt about The Voice outperforming Catch If You Can, he said:
"Honestly, that's good news. You know, Chris and I have a great relationship, and I've always loved Harry Potter."
"I watched The Voice yesterday. It's a wonderful film—Chris did an excellent job, and Isabella's story is imaginative, even whimsical."
"Whenever a great piece of work erges in this industry, my reaction is always the sa: welco, and congratulations."
Then ABC interviewed Leo.
When shown the numbers, the still-boyish heartthrob grinned:
"Isabella took down? Hah—unexpected but reasonable."
"Unexpected because I knew she was good, but not that good. Reasonable because I've seen Harry Potter—Hermione Granger was fantastic. When a performance connects that deeply, it's only natural her next film draws a huge following."
"Besides, Titanic was six years ago. My fans probably have families now. Their kids are reading Harry Potter. So, sure, I'll take the loss."
"After all, I just lost to my younger self, didn't I? Hahaha~"
CBS got Tom Hanks on cara.
Asked about the "battle of Best Actors," he said:
"Anthony and I are good friends, and I know Chris, Susie, Jude, Christian… all of them."
"Whoever succeeds, I'm happy. Yesterday I went to see The Voice—a really fine movie."
"I noticed Anthony's role there is just like mine in Catch If You Can: short but powerful. Our dear Hermione Granger, Ms. Haywood, is the real lead. So honestly, neither of us stands much chance at Best Actor this year."
"Yeah, I like Harry Potter too. I even chatted about it with the other Tom, you know, the one with the stunts."
"So if The Voice is being loved by audiences… I wish them even more success."
And while Arican outlets were working overti, British dia were no slouches either.
Soon, reporters had shoved microphones in front of Anthony Hopkins and others—
and their answers were… about the sa.
Exactly as Nathan Bailey's "evil cultivation plan" had intended: Chris Columbus's real job was to diate the war.
The Voice and Catch If You Can were supposed to clash—but not actually fight.
Because if they really fought, The Voice would get crushed.
Not because Isabella's fans weren't fierce, but because Catch 's fanbase had resources.
Young people are loud, sure, but when the older crowd controls the podium, what can you do?
You can curse soone a thousand tis online, but it only takes one biased editor at a mainstream outlet to flip the whole narrative.
So the strategy was simple: fake war.
Let the dia stir the pot, and let the celebrities play firefighters.
Rumors and rebuttals—
the perfect way to keep the spotlight glued to them.
And the result?
Exactly that.
The explosive headlines drew everyone's attention in a flash.
Once people realized there was no "war," just dia nonsense and mutual complints from both sides, they quieted down again.
Except that kind of quiet is the most dangerous thing.
Because when everyone's watching No.1 and No.3—
who rembers No.2?
The Voice's narrow win over The Lord of the Rings beca Warner's main talking point—
and the only thing the public rembered about The Rings that week.
No exaggeration, and no shade ant either.
The truth is, The Lord of the Rings just wasn't a star-making machine.
Orlando Bloom only beca famous after Pirates of the Caribbean.
Among the Fellowship—Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd—how many people can na any of their other films without looking them up?
Cate Blanchett's the sa. People call her the Elf Queen, but her biggest comrcial splash ca as Hela in Thor: Ragnarok. The Rings barely moved her paycheck.
So when the only marketable hook in The Lord of the Rings was the ring itself, and its box office wasn't Spider-Man-level unstoppable—
The next day, December 26:
The Lord of the Rings made $12.33 million in North Arica, a 24.8% rise.
Catch If You Can took $10.56 million, up 26.1%.
The Voice grossed $13.06 million, up 28.3%.
No surprise—it topped the box office again.
The Rings stayed second, Catch third.
December 27:
As governnt and ergency departnts reopened, the market slightly corrected.
The Rings took $13.46M ( 9.2%),
Catch $12.27M ( 16.2%),
The Voice $15.93M ( 22%).
Even with a shrinking market, The Voice scored a three-day streak at No.1.
The Rings held second, Catch third.
December 28:
People started returning to work, so many films dipped.
But The Rings stayed steady at $12.52M ( 2.1%).
Catch rose to $13.57M ( 10.6%).
The Voice shot up to $19.89M ( 24.9%).
Four days, four wins.
And with a slim $1.05M lead, Catch edged into second place, pushing The Rings to third.
See, once the workweek began, The Voice's biggest advantage kicked in—
The Rings might be legendary, but its audience was older.
When the adults went back to work, the kids stayed at the theater.
And The Voice?
Dearie—
School hasn't even started yet for the young ones!
Since they've got endless energy to burn, watching The Voice and then following it up with Catch If You Can doesn't seem like too much trouble, right?
"F*** squid! F*** squid!! F*** squid!!!"
"Damn you, Warner!"
"Damn you, Barry yer!!"
"Damn you, Chris Columbus!!!"
"Damn you, Isabella Haywood!!!!"
"May you all rot!!!"
New Line's boss, Robert Shaye, gave his office a full-on demolition-level cleaning.
But no matter how much he scread, none of it changed the fact that The Lord of the Rings had already fallen apart.
By December 29, 2002, The Lord of the Rings began losing theater slots.
Every major analytics firm dropped its box office forecast into the 80-million range.
That fact alone made Warner ecstatic—but at this point, it didn't even matter.
Because in Hollywood math, Christmas weekend's three-day box office is roughly equal to a normal first weekend.
So when The Voice raked in 10.18 million, 13.06 million, and 15.93 million over those three days, its "first weekend" total hit 39.18 million—just shy of 40.
Sounds small, huh?
Ahem. That's what's sitting on The Lord of the Rings' head!
"Oh oh oh—our little Beaver's put on the One Ring, hasn't she? She's wearing the One Ring, right?!"
"My god! Nearly 40 million for The Voice's first weekend in North Arica? Doesn't that an it could hit 200 million dostic? And if we go 60/40, that's 300 million worldwide? OMG, our Little Beaver is incredible!"
"No, no, no—it's gotta be over 400 million worldwide! It's crushing it in the UK too!"
"Totally! We Potterheads in Britain are all supporting her! During the three-day Christmas run, the UK alone brought in 15 million! Sure, that's only half of Chamber of Secrets, but compared to The Lord of the Rings, it's just 5 million less! The Lord of the Rings only made 20 million here its opening weekend!"
"Hiss—scary numbers! Wait, wait—if The Voice really does hit 400 million worldwide, that ans Isabella's total career box office is about to hit 2 billion, right? Philosopher's Stone had 900 million, Chamber of Secrets at least 800 million! She'll be the first mber of the trio to reach 2 billion!"
"Forget first of the trio—she'll be the youngest actor in history to hit 2 billion! Nobody's ever done that before 18! We used to think the HP trio would hit that mark together, because the franchise is a monster, but now... Isabella's even more of a monster…"
"No! The real monster part's still coming! She could beco the youngest actor in history to hit 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, even 800 million! Because Harry Potter has seven films! Seven!! And she's the youngest of the trio!"
"AAAAAA—Little Beaver is unstoppable—"
Yes, yes, yes—behind The Voice's soaring box office was a tidal wave of ecstatic fans.
Can't bla them. Isabella's numbers were terrifying.
She debuted at 10, and by 13, her career total might break 2 billion.
At that point, people just ran out of adjectives.
Because even the most exaggerated praise didn't sound exaggerated when it ca to her.
But… it only looked insane.
When you've got the biggest cheat code in movie history—Harry Potter—even Thanos would end up turned into a pair of flip-flops.
Hmph.
Beyond the numbers, The Voice's critical reception started surfacing in those few days—and honestly, it was shockingly good.
Maybe it's because its ssage of universal optimism hit a sweet spot.
Or maybe—let's be real—it's because Western society loves to pretend everything's fine. The sa countries that erase August 6 and 9 from their calendars to avoid awkward reminders suddenly act all righteous about "protecting children." So when real-life child safety scandals keep popping up, they need cheerful, "positive" films to wallpaper over the unease.
Whatever the reason, the reviews were phenonal.
IMDb opened at 8.5.
Over 100,000 ratings in five days.
Even if it dropped later, it wouldn't fall below 7.5—and anything above 7 on IMDb is "classic" territory.
Rotten Tomatoes mirrored it: 91% critics' approval, 96% audience score.
Certified Fresh on day one.
Once the numbers went insane, the written reviews followed suit—
"The Voice is an exceptionally brilliant film! The Zeller family's pursuit of their dreams and love for life is inspiring to everyone."
"Isabella Haywood's Lily Zeller has boundless determination, resilience, and optimism—she's one of the most captivating characters in 2002 cinema."
"I adore this story! When I found out Isabella wrote it herself, I instantly understood why her Hermione felt so alive—because Isabella herself radiates warmth and confidence. She's an angel."
"The highlights are endless. Anthony Hopkins again proves what it ans to be an Oscar winner; Jude Law and Christian Bale deserve nominations; Keira Knightley is one to watch; and Margot Robbie, the little girl who faces Lily at the end, totally stole my heart. The biggest surprise, though, is Isabella—her singing is incredible! I can't believe Be What You Wanna Be and The Climb were both written by her. Her musical talent is stunning, and now I'm dying to know when the OST cos out—I need it, like, yesterday!"
January 1, 2003.
At an outdoor venue by the London Eye, Isabella appeared live on BBC (UK), NBC (Warner's channel), and even Disney's uninvited ABC broadcast. When the host read a fan comnt from Yahoo Entertainnt—
Wearing a black cashre coat, a knit cap, and a small scarf, Isabella smiled and said:
"Uh… the soundtrack release might take a bit more ti. It's not because we weren't prepared, but because Warner wants to put out two versions."
"One is the movie soundtrack, with all songs and score from The Voice."
"The other is my mini-album—it'll have the four songs I sing in The Voice, plus one new, independent track I wrote while making the film. It didn't make it into the movie, so Warner suggested we release it together."
"Anyone interested, stay tuned…"
Before she even finished, cheers erupted.
She turned toward the noise and waved with a bright smile.
Down by the Thas, a sea of fans filled the riverbank.
Yep.
All hers.
"Ahhh, I'm so famous~"
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